Contract extensions for Colombian ports

The government has extended the contracts with the goal of expanding exports and imports and of optimising national infrastructure, in tandem with the free trade agreements it has signed or has pending with other countries.

The new investments will be used mainly to expand storage and docking facilities, to deepen harbours to facilitate access by larger ships and to improve the operational functioning of each port.

At Barranquilla, US$178m will be spent to deepen the access channel to more than 40 ft and to push ahead with the development of a new facility, the port of Palermo, which will be capable of handling 50m tons of cargo annually. The Palermo project will require an initial investment of US$135m and ultimately a total of US$400m by the time it is fully built.